After the delay in the appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs) of the state universities, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today, Thursday, September 14 extended his support to Governor CV Ananda Bose and ordained him with the authority to appoint vice-chancellors for state-run universities, after a series of controversy on the matter.
The union minister said that the state government should not unnecessarily look into such matters and focus on ensuring that incidents, like the gruesome ragging at Jadavpur University, are not repeated.
He said, "In other states, the governor appoints vice-chancellors of state universities. In West Bengal, the governor is well within his rights to appoint VCs." He also added that the state government should not hound the vice-chancellor and concentrate on employing new rules and methods to ensure the college campuses do not witness any malicious activities like the incident that took the life of the student in Jadavpur University, and such things are not repeated again.
Why was the decision made?
The remarks made by the Union Minister Pradhan came after the state government and Raj Bhavan were in the midst of a confrontation over the appointment of officiating VCs in eight state universities and the decision to come up with names of eight others.
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee had previously attacked the governor for allegedly violating norms and threatened to impose an economic blockade on universities.
The state Education Minister Bratya Basu has also blamed Bose for violating the rules and acting unilaterally, bypassing the higher education department to proceed with the appointments.
